Impact of Engineering Course Participation on Students’ Attitudinal Factors: A Replication Study (Evaluation)

Meltem Alemdar; Sunni Haag Newton; Jessica D Gale; Talia Capozzoli Kessler; Roxanne Moore

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Springfield's STEM Spectacle: Evaluating Engineering Excellence, D'oh!
Tagged Division: Pre-College Engineering Education Division (PCEE)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47556

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Paper Authors

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Meltem Alemdar Georgia Institute of Technology

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Dr. Meltem Alemdar is a Associate Director and Principal Research Scientist at Georgia Institute of Technology’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC), Dr. Alemdar made significant contributions to the fields of STEM education. Her research focuses on improving K-12 STEM education through research on curriculum development, teacher professional development, and student learning in integrated STEM environments. Dr. Alemdar currently serves as PI and co-PI for research on various NSF funded projects that focuses on engineering education, teacher networks and STEM learning environments. Her expertise includes program evaluation, social network analysis, mixed methods, and advanced quantitative methods. Dr. Alemdar is passionate advocate for equitable and inclusive STEM education. She actively engages with educators, students, and communities to promote the importance of STEM disciplines and education research in preparing the next generation for the challenges of the future. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Policy, with a concentration in Research, Measurement, and Statistics, from Georgia State University.

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Sunni Haag Newton Georgia Institute of Technology orcid.org/0000-0003-2331-1349

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Sunni Newton is currently a Senior Research Scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC). Her research focuses on assessing the implementation and outcomes of educati

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Jessica D Gale Georgia Institute of Technology orcid.org/0000-0002-7361-3612

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Dr. Jessica Gale is a Research Scientist II at Georgia Tech's Center for education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC). Her research focuses on project-based learning, STEM integration at the elementary and middle grades levels, desig

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Talia Capozzoli Kessler Georgia Institute of Technology orcid.org/0000-0002-8257-8150

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Talia Kessler, MSPP is a research associate at The Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) at Georgia Tech. As a research associate, she works on research and evaluation projects centering on K-12 STEM education. She has a Master's degree in Public Policy from the Georgia Tech and is currently studying towards a PhD in Educational Policy Studies at Georgia State University.

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Roxanne Moore Georgia Institute of Technology orcid.org/0000-0003-0536-4957

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Roxanne Moore is currently a Research Engineer at Georgia Tech with appointments in the school of Mechanical Engineering and the Center for Education Integrating Mathematics, Science, and Computing (CEISMC). She is involved with engineering education inno

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Abstract

Engineering education, with its focus on design and problem solving, has been shown to be fertile ground for encouraging students’ further development of their fundamental math and science skills in a way that they find relevant and engaging, and for promoting interest in STEM more broadly. To capitalize on these positive aspects of the engineering context, researchers developed, implemented, and studied a three-year engineering curriculum for grades 6 – 8 that utilizes the engineering design process and problem-based learning. In this semester-long elective course, students work through a series of design challenges within a given context (a carnival, airplanes and flight, and robotics, respectively, for 6th, 7th and 8th grades) and learn engineering content as well as practice fundamental math and science skills. This curriculum was developed and researched as part of an earlier project; in that work, course participation was linked with increased academic achievement on state-wide math and science assessments as well as heightened cognitive and behavioral engagement in STEM and science interest [1]. The current work seeks to replicate the findings of this earlier study in a different and larger school district while a) expanding the research foci to include teacher training and teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and b) refining the curriculum materials including the teacher website and support materials. In this paper, we present the research strand focusing on the impact of the course on students’ attitudinal factors including engagement, science interest, and science and math anxiety. These factors were measured in each semester-long course using a pre-post survey design. Survey items are primarily from validated instruments and are similar to those used in prior research on this curriculum and its impact on students; prior research demonstrated good reliability, with alpha values ranging from 0.84 to 0.91 for each construct [1]. We compare students’ levels of engagement, science interest, and math and science anxiety at the pre and post time points to understand whether and how participating in the course influences their standing on these variables. . Open-ended survey items were used as a supplementary data source. The preliminary results from the first year of implementation (2022-2023 academic year) suggest that similar to the original study, there is an increase across some of the student constructs, including student engagement. This finding was also supported by engineering teachers’ input about student engagement in the classroom. As the study progresses into its planned 2nd and 3rd years of curriculum implementation, we will be able to further discern the extent to which multiple years of course enrollment might differentially impact the attitudinal factors of interest (i.e., dosage effects).

Citation
Format

Alemdar, M., & Newton, S. H., & Gale, J. D., & Kessler, T. C., & Moore, R. (2024, June), Impact of Engineering Course Participation on Students’ Attitudinal Factors: A Replication Study (Evaluation) Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47556

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Engineering education, with its focus on design and problem solving, has been shown to be fertile ground for encouraging students’ further development of their fundamental math and science skills in a way that they find relevant and engaging, and for promoting interest in STEM more broadly. To capitalize on these positive aspects of the engineering context, researchers developed, implemented, and studied a three-year engineering curriculum for grades 6 – 8 that utilizes the engineering design process and problem-based learning. In this semester-long elective course, students work through a series of design challenges within a given context (a carnival, airplanes and flight, and robotics, respectively, for 6th, 7th and 8th grades) and learn engineering content as well as practice fundamental math and science skills. This curriculum was developed and researched as part of an earlier project; in that work, course participation was linked with increased academic achievement on state-wide math and science assessments as well as heightened cognitive and behavioral engagement in STEM and science interest [1]. The current work seeks to replicate the findings of this earlier study in a different and larger school district while a) expanding the research foci to include teacher training and teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and b) refining the curriculum materials including the teacher website and support materials. In this paper, we present the research strand focusing on the impact of the course on students’ attitudinal factors including engagement, science interest, and science and math anxiety. These factors were measured in each semester-long course using a pre-post survey design. Survey items are primarily from validated instruments and are similar to those used in prior research on this curriculum and its impact on students; prior research demonstrated good reliability, with alpha values ranging from 0.84 to 0.91 for each construct [1]. We compare students’ levels of engagement, science interest, and math and science anxiety at the pre and post time points to understand whether and how participating in the course influences their standing on these variables. . Open-ended survey items were used as a supplementary data source. The preliminary results from the first year of implementation (2022-2023 academic year) suggest that similar to the original study, there is an increase across some of the student constructs, including student engagement. This finding was also supported by engineering teachers’ input about student engagement in the classroom. As the study progresses into its planned 2nd and 3rd years of curriculum implementation, we will be able to further discern the extent to which multiple years of course enrollment might differentially impact the attitudinal factors of interest (i.e., dosage effects). 
AU  - Meltem Alemdar
AU  - Sunni Haag Newton
AU  - Jessica D Gale
AU  - Talia Capozzoli Kessler
AU  - Roxanne Moore
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Impact of Engineering Course Participation on Students’ Attitudinal Factors: A Replication Study (Evaluation)
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/47556
ER  -